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It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided with the Politics of Extremism

Book by Thomas E. Mann · 2 quotes · Politics, America, Democrats

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It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided with the Politics of Extremism Quotes

“Today's Republican Party...is an insurgent outlier. It has become ideologically extreme; contemptuous of the inherited social and economic policy regime; scornful of compromise; unpersuaded by conventional understanding of facts, evidence, and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition, all but declaring war on the government. The Democratic Party, while no paragon of civic virtue, is more ideologically centered and diverse, protective of the government's role as it developed over the course of the last century, open to incremental changes in policy fashioned through bargaining with the Republicans, and less disposed to or adept at take-no-prisoners conflict between the parties. This asymmetry between the parties, which journalists and scholars often brush aside or whitewash in a quest for "balance," constitutes a huge obstacle to effective governance.”

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Book:It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided with the Politics of Extremism
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“Since the debt limit simply accommodates debt that has already been incurred, raising it should, in theory, be perfunctory. But politicians have found it a useful shibboleth for showing their fealty fiscal discipline, even as they vote to ratify the debts their previous actions have a beginning the country to pay. The symbol of railing against debt has proven politically beneficial, even if not substantively meaningful.”

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Book:It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional System Collided with the Politics of Extremism
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